Sunday, 14 July 2013

Wheatbelt Rocks and WA Goldfields

I had a 4 day
break from work and the weather had been dry, so I decided to leave the trouble
and strife + tin lid behind and do a run to the Goldfields. I haven't explored
much out there myself - my bad - and its a big one on my bucket list. So I
loaded the car and headed off solo for a 4 day cannonball run.
First up was to check some rocks on the way. Turning off at Kelleberin, I made
my way up to Marshall Rock. Not that spectacular, but a nice quiet campground
is here if required. I picked up a cache and I made my staple hot salami and
jarlsberg cheese sandwiches for lunch before heading off to Muckinbudin. Here I
had arranged to meet a fella. But alas, by the time I got to town I had missed
him by 40 odd minutes. .......So from there I headed off to Baladjie rock.

A lot more
structure here and a much larger campgound. A lot of evidence at the site said
that this is a well used camp and probably pretty muddy when wet. Another cache
was bagged then it was onto Southern Cross for a fuel top up.

My aim was
Jaurdi Station for the night. I wanted to go via Koolyanobbing, but its a
restricted access westnet rail maintenance road and I didn't have the courage
to go against that. So I went the long way round. I got there under a setting
sun. Driving the road with a setting sun in the eyes was a challenge. I even
missed the homestead in the failing light, but after a double back, I found
ground zero. I had just enough light left to gather some wood for dinner and a
campfire.

Being tin, and
having a nice cable hole, I was able to stick one of my leds on the side of the
shearing shed and feed the cable through the hole in the wall....Nice....

The old shearing shed was
awesome....somewhere dry to set up the swag. I loved the old bike seat on the
wall

And the view
from the window was just superb

I will have to come back to
Jaurdi with the family at a later stage.

A pleasant night was had
listening to the sounds of freight trains in the distance. Dragging myself out
of the swag about 7, I slowly got all my chores sorted and finished off with a
bowl of cereal. The plan for today was to find a way via bush tracks to the
Northeast and park up at Rowles lagoon for the night. I would head up the Mt
Jackson road for a bit and then head East on another track to come into the
back of Credo Station.

Best laid plans always go
astray....Traveling along the Mt Jackson Road was awesome. It was in great
condition and I just love that spread out Salmon Gum country. I spied what I
thought was to be my first diggings so went in to investigate: Fail......it was
a dam, damn it. So I headed further North and spied an old abandoned mine on my
gps. I took this track and investigated. It consisted of a gravel pit in a
natural amphitheater, surrounded by picturesque hills in the distance and this
structure:

I guess that’s where its name of Breakaway Mine comes from.

I
had a bit of a look around at the place. A small dilapidated
sleeping/crib hut in a bad state of disrepair and a small shed in much
better condition. Small electric motors on the bench in the shed, in
various states of disassembly made it look like there had been a swift
departure made from the place. It was like a snapshot in time. The
gravel pit was huge and I had a lot to get through today, so I didn't
explore the extremities. I did go and look at a couple of the nearby
shafts though. After all that's what this trip is about, rocks and
gold...

A couple of shafts that obviously met not that far underground:

But of more interest to me was this next one. In
my "roaring days", I indulged in a bit of caving, so ropes, cave
ladders and small holes tend to get me going....The ladder on this one
was a pearler, in great condition and chained to rotting old timber
holding the walls up. Common sense prevailed and I didn't do it. I was
over 100K's to the nearest main road, here by myself and the risk of a
bit of adventure much too great, sadly.

So after about 1/2 hour of looking around, I hit the Jackson road again.

I
pushed on, not knowing what may lie ahead. The first navigational
challenge came soon afterwards when I got to MT Finnerty. The roads
direction and the maps didn't quite seem to correlate. I am running 2
gps's in the vehicle. One is a netbook with external 8" touch screen
running Ozi, the other a 7" chinese device running OziCe. I usually just
run the 250K topo on the chinese and 100K on the netbook. So I played
with the zoom on the netbook for a broader view and selected the correct
route. Just goes to show, paper maps are still very valid in this
electronic age, not even factoring failing electronics into the
equation. I came across what was obviously a haul road. It was marked
with no left and no right turn signs. This wasn't on any of my maps. I
assumed it was the Mt Walton road. In hindsight, I was wrong. So I
continued Eastwards and crossed another larger road with no signage.
This one was on my maps. I crossed this and continued on. The further I
got, the more the bush encroached. Then it closed right in on me. I
gritted the teeth for about 100m listening to the sounds of fingernails
on chalkboard , the vegetation against the clearcoat of the Paj. Then I
was greeted with a large washout. I parked the Paj where I could get the
drivers door opened and had a recce on foot. Whilst negotiating the
washout wasn't a problem, if the next 50 or so Km's was going to be like
this, not only would it take me an eternity, but what state would my
daily drive end up in. Discretion is the better part of valour, so I
made the decision to bail out. Reversing out of the enclosed salt bush
was a challenge. Almost peeling off the left hand wing mirror. But I got
out. Heading back to the last cross road, I spied and took a pic of the
487 meter benchmark as shown on my gps pic below. At the crossroad I
zoomed out again and had a bonanza. I had a cache marked further down
this road, so that's where I headed.This is after I had reversed out. It closed in much worse just past where this pic was taken:

And the gps shot showing my track in red solid line, the benchmark 487 and how far I got past that:

I'm making great progress down this newly selected
road trying to limit my speed around the 80 Km/H mark as it was in
truely remarkable condition. I could have hit much more speed if I
wasn't careful. I come to another unmarked cross road. To the West is
the entrance to a mine site, boom gates and security camera's to boot in
the middle of nowhere. I continue on South noting I really need to head
East to make my intended camp. When I get to the turnoff for the cache,
there is another mine entrance on the Right. As I zoom out the gps map,
I make the discovery I've been on Mt Walton Rd all along. I passed the
start of this when I went into Jaurdi. It had big signposts: "no entry,
private haul road" at its entrance. Whoops! So I turn East for Walleroo
Rock. Magnificent country and boy am I rewarded at the end. A cache, a
large water source at the rocks base and a magnificent campground to
boot. It was a trifecta

I have come to notice something out here after
doing a bit of walking looking for caches. It doesn't take too much
distance away from the vehicle to start to loose ones bearings in this
thick scrub. I start to gain a feel for the recent spate of lost
prospectors we seem to be having of late. After a bit of a look around
Walleroo, I head out on the Eastern side of the Walleroo road. The road
was open, traversing through low saltbush country in a soft yellow sand.
I had about 40 Km's of this and it was just brilliant. Just myself, my
paj, the scrub and quite literally, miles from anywhere or anybody.

This stretch of track was my absolute favourite part of the whole
trip. I cross another North/South road, but these seem to lead to
nowhere special. Anyway I need to keep heading East, as Jaurdi Hills
road is about 10 K's away and I need to hit this to get to Rowles
Lagoon.

At this cross
road, it must have been about 2pm, so it was time for another salami and
jarlsberg cheese sandwich lunch. I soak up the cloudless sunshine and
cool breeze in the process then continue East. The road changed a bit
here, following a fenceline with a few minor water washouts and now I
had scrub growing in the middle of the track. Obviously not as well used
as the last 40 Km's. so I plug on, clearing the track of scrub with my
bashplates. Coming past some old evidence of habitation I am greeted
with a gate. All I can think is "oh shit", if this is locked, I'm
buggered. As luck would have it, it was not, but once through and
closing the gate I notice the BIG sign in the pic below. Another place I
shouldn't have been in. But it wasn't signposted from the way I came
in. Anyway, as my other half stated when I got back home, I wasn't
entering, I was exiting.....lol

There is so much country out here, but so much of it is locked up. I
guess that's what the money from gold does. So I'm now on an official
gazetted road (the gravel Jaurdi Hills road) and I'm feeling a lot more
confident about making Rowles for the night.

I'm
making my way to the Coolgardie North road to set up camp at Rowles
Lagoon. The remainder of the trip will be following the Golden Quest
Discovery Trail, more or less. A quick right turn at Dunnsville and I
spy some more potential diggings so I venture in for a look. It wasn't
any diggings, but I am greeted with the remnants of a recently burnt out
caravan. 2 large LPG cylinders are in the mix, luckily they hadn't let
go. It had burnt completely to the ground, even the tires were now just
radial strings of steel belts

From there, there is nothing exciting to report on
the rest of the journey, until I make my intended overnight destination -
Rowles. Its about 4pm now so my first chore is to gather wood. The
campsite is obviously well used and there is very little in the way of
usable lumber. But just like at Jaurdi, I make do with what is available
and scrounge enough both for dinner and a little after dinner drinks
warmth. Just before I start the fire, I notice a large full moon rising
behind me, so I grab a pic of both it and the campsite.

What I notice when I get home is that all my camp
shots have about 4 empty cans on the ground and an enamel mug full of
red. I think they were stalking me.....lol.

Another pleasant night in the swag and in the
morning, I go for a 400m hike to pick up another cache for the trip. The
lagoon is bone dry. Probably just as well as the cows that are now
grazing on it cant swim. During the night the clouds rolled in. In the
morning it was completely overcast and I never saw the sun all day. It
remained this way for the remainder of the trip and threatened my
security of a dry camp. I again go through the routine of packing up my
gear, finish off with a bowl of cereal and hit the road. Next stop,
Niagra Dam via leonora (or so I thought when I departed)

Heading
up the Coolgardie North road I have a bit of a look around when I get
to the ghost town of Callion. There are a couple of graves to look at,
(not taking away from the hardships endured of days gone by, but I sort
of get over looking at graves after a while). But on the other side is
the abandoned pit of the old mine. This was the first major hole in the
ground I had come across. And it makes me wonder........Mankind as a
whole is such a funny race. We put so much effort and resource into
digging up huge tracts of land to find a piddly amount of soft yellow
metal. Then we base our world economies on this piece of
metal.......pity we cant put the same efforts into solving some of the
worlds problems hey!

Anyway, a bit off track there......I go and have a look at the pit.
It is quite big and I wonder how many man hours it has taken to get to
this. I would have loved to explore the area more, but time was
pressing, so a couple of pics and I'm on the road again. I cant help but
thinking that this mine rehabilitation business is a modern concept. So
much land has been permanently destroyed by over more than a century of
mining operations and I cant see any reason why this would be corrected
in the future. I suppose, apart from the area's natural beauty (and
mineral resource), there is probably not a lot going for it...If that's
any justification???

I
continue on and stop off at the remnants of the former township of
Davyhurst. There is some caution to be exercised on these gravel roads,
particularly in the lower lying regions and dips as water has eroded the
subsoil leaving some big trenches in places in the road. Granite, one
of the toughest rock known to man, and dumped as tailings from mining
operations is crushed and rolled into the road in a lot of places. This
gives the road surface some strength to endure water erosion and
traffic, but its rough on the vehicle and I cant help but thinking I'd
hate to be reincarnated as a cooper’s tire .

All that's
left of Davyhurst is a bit of brick rubble from the former Grand Hotel
and some associated bits of rusting metals and broken bottles floating
about from occupation of days gone by. The bush has all but reclaimed
the lot. Its a shame about these sites really, because there is nothing
left now. Whilst I'm here I suppose I better bag myself another cache.

I
can hear the whirr of an operating mine in the not to far distance, so
there is obviously plenty of fortunes still to be found here. I again
spy what looks like tailings and a pit in the distance, so I point the
Paj in the general direction as far as I can and then walk over the
granite tailings and discover a pit at least twice the size of the one
at Callion, the abandoned Golden Eagle pit. But a word of note, its all
relative. I haven't seen the super pit in Kal for years. It would make
these look like potholes.

From there I head up to Ularring Soak. "First" discovered by one of this
nations most adventurous men, Ernest Giles. Following up a lead when I
returned home, I now have a paperback copy of his journal "Australia
Twice Traversed" published in 1889. This is a Journal of Giles's 5
expeditions into WA and Central South Australia. I'm hoping I can glean
some good information from this to go exploring into this area myself.
He didn't have to deal with native title though, only spears....... I
climbed the rock, grabed a pic of the cairn erected in his memory and go
the staple salami and jarlsberg for lunch. I completely forgot about
the cache here...D'oh!

I find the well at Ularring pictured here of interest:

I push on to Snake Hill overlooking Lake Ballard. I've had to avoid 2
big reds on the way, but apart from that its been devoid of both
wildlife and human interaction for the last 3 days. I haven't passed a
single vehicle or seen another person since I left the Great Eastern
Highway. Not that I'm anti human or anything, but I find this experience
to be bloody fantastic.

I'm also starting to think
there is no way I'm going to Niagra Dam for the last nights stop if I go
via Leonora due to time and distance. I look at the nice covered picnic
benches, then the dark grey clouds that have been around since Dawn.
I'm thinking it would make nice protection should those clouds burst.
But its only about 2.30pm and collecting timber may be a mission, having
to drag it up the hill. So I decide to modify my plans. I'll head
direct to Menzies then push on direct to Niagra. I turn into the Lake
Ballard campsite (Gormley's inside Australia project)http://www.google.com.au/search?q=gormley+inside+australia&sa=X&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=XC7OUeesGouCkwXV74DIBg&ved=0CDkQsAQ&biw=1013&bih=652)
Here
I see my first people in 3 days. A couple of grey nomads in a small
camp site. There is also no wood around. So, whilst I would have loved
to have spent a day here, there is only so much you can fit into 4 days
and the beckoning weather and firewood situation makes me stick with my
recently modified plan.

Half of the 130 or so Km's from Lake Ballard to Niagra is
dirt. Then at Menzies I hit the first load of tarmac in 3 days. So it's
up the highway and into Niagra to be greeted with about 6 vans all
camped up top. Great....NOT!. Oh dear, I've been enjoying the peace and
solitude to date, but it looks like its all about to stop. So I drive
past the nomads and find there is a dirt track to a lower campground.
There is not a soul around down here....Perfect...... So I select a spot
under some trees to provide me with some protection should the heaven's
open during the night.

I
do my usual task of gathering wood for the nights fire. Investigating
some of the other fire pits, I find a bit of timber left from previous
travellers. But I don't have enough, so I venture further afield,
checking out what may lie underneath the scattered salmon gums. I bring
back a few assorted "sticks" but its not looking great (that said, it's
no different to the other two stops I had). I venture further out and
have a Eureka gold strike all of my own.....Someone has left me some
split jarrah sleepers. This is the best fire I will have all trip. But
these sleepers will have to be used last as they have been soaked in
diesel and they pretty well stunk and billowed smoke for a bit when they
finally hit the fire. I bag another cache before dinner.

As
it was to be my last supper, I thought I had better prove I didn't go
hungry. Satay Chicken kebab's, mushrooms and corn on the cob. Slow
cooked over an open fire on a Hilbilly hotplate. Top off with some
coleslaw and pasta salad........Perfect bush tucker!

My best campfire to date was also my best night. After dinner and
clean up was done, I sat back with the moshi bass barrel cranking out
some tunes, listening to the genny and cackling female nomads camped
above, the occasional rumble of a loco in the distance, singeing the
hairs off my legs by the warn, cosy fire and quenching the dusty throat
with some after dinner red. Light drizzle was falling on and off
throughout the night. In the morning I am faced with the prospect of a
1000Km trek home.

So I pack up, have breakfast and
hit the road for the long journey home. On the highway I'm amazed how
wet the bitumen is and the small pools of water lying on the soil on the
sides of the road. I was lucky it seems, the showers passed around me.
I'm thinking to myself on the way back to Menzies, I really don't want
to spend all my time home on the blacktop, but I'm torn between gravel
and time. In the end I think stuff it, I don't want to go through
Kalgoorlie and I'm out here for a reason, so bugger the time, I'll go to
Coolgardie via Serbia and Ora Banda.

I turn off the
highway back onto the dirt and travelling conditions are far removed
from the day's before. In between showers, the road surface has turned
to typical goldfields slush when wet. The paj is a bit skatey and I
reduce my speed accordingly. Every time I hit a wet spot, I hear the
road surface being flung under the guards and up the sides of the car.

I rock up to Serbia and have a look at about the only thing left here. A cemetery. However the "Danger, numerous mines in the area"
sign is too much of a lure, so I go for a 1/2 hour explore in the
forbidden area. I cant believe the number of diggings here and pardon
the pun, but I haven't even scratched the surface. Also what amazed me
was the number of rusty old bully beef cans scattered around the area.
Can you imagine living on that stuff - And here is me with my car,
fridge, fresh steak, peri-peri chicken halves and satay kebabs, cold
drinks, fresh salads and vege's. Boy, how times change hey. And not a
barrow or a camel in sight. So I grab another cache and continue on.

Hell or Siberia??? I think in the day it was one and the same.

Anyway, time to finish up this epic....... So from Siberia, I
make my way to Ora Banda but only pass through. I have to stop for a
pic of the old hotel ruins in Kunanalling.

Then its off to Coolgardie to check in with the trouble and strife and back onto the blacktop for home.

Stopping at Southern Cross for fuel, re-aired tires and a well earned burger, I hit the road and get home 5 hours or so later.

So
all in all, I travelled 1900Km's (800 of that dirt) over 4 days, burnt
$300 worth of diesel and had one of my most enjoyable trips ever. I'm
not sure why I enjoyed it so much - It could have been that I was solo, I
travelled some lonely bush tracks, I saw no people for 3 days or I took
in a lot of history. Maybe it was because I had left the city behind.
In reflection, I think it was just simply all the above.